How it began.

Sometime in May 2013, I discovered a huge lump on my left breast.  At the time, all it did was to give me the occasional stabbing pain.  It soon intensified to one which robbed me of my sleep.  I went to see Professor Dato Dr Yip, a leading breast surgeon with Sime Darby Medical Center.  She said my lump was huge and unusual, probably a cyst considering my age and menopausal probabilities.  Although cancer cannot be ruled out, she opined that it was unlikely since lumps typically grow to such a size over a long period.  Off to ultrasound I went.

The radiologist was grim when she gave a curt diagnosis.  "Could be infection but cannot rule out cancer."

This time, Prof Yip said "Hmmm... not good.  We will need a biopsy.". She sank a needle into my lump and said  "This is gritty.  It feels like cancer."

The day came with its ups and down and I swung between Hope and Despair.

A couple of days later, the biopsy report was ready:

The smears are hypercellular and show numerous atypical duct epithelial cells in loose cluster and singly distributed.  Stromal cells and myoepithelial cells are seen focally.  The atypical cells show high N/C ratio, irregular nuclear membrane and occasional nucleoli.  Large bare nuclei with irregular chromatin and small nucleoli are also seen.

These reports are typically incoherently worded to alienate the likes of us from the comprehension of Science and those who practices it.  As a recipient of one such report for which you pay an exorbitant price, you must resign yourself to searching the faces of the man or woman of science and accepting, whether or not you like it, the statement he or she made.

I knew a thing or two about separating the Beauty from the Beast,  "Benign" is the Beauty.  "Malignant" is the Beast.  Thus informed, I searched the report for the word.  I was overwhelmed with relief when I saw that the word "malignant" was absent.

I was wrong.

Apparently the keyword was "Atypical" and further tests were required.